A Look at NOTEC

With NOTEC's existence being made public via Montolio’s recent tweet, there has been a great deal of speculation, much baseless, as to what NOTEC implies for the future of industry. I decided to open a dialog with the management team of NOTEC inside TEST and determine what exactly it is they’re up to.

The name NOTEC (which stands for Neodymium Organized Trading and Exporting Cartel) is an obvious reference to the much-discussed and very public OTEC (Organization of Technetium Exporting Corporations), an arrangement between alliances holding Technetium moons for the mutual benefit of everyone involved. NOTEC, in a similar vein, is an arrangement between alliances holding Neodymium. Just as with OTEC, the goal is to raise market prices through artificial inflation.

The arrangement is simple: withhold a percentage of Neo from the market to artificially lower the supply available, which in turn increases the value of what’s available on the market. Part of this depends on a big demand, and Neodymium happens to be a requirement in two widely used reactions (Nanotransistors and Fermionic Condensates), making Neo a part of every T2 module and ship in the game

Market fixing is easier said than done. Part of what made OTEC possible is that the 400+ Technetium moons present in New Eden are concentrated in the northernmost regions, whereas the 300+ Neodymium moons available are scattered across the galaxy, many (but not all) of which are in the south. This presents an interesting challenge for anyone hoping to control the supply of Neodymium in the game, as it is hard to coordinate all invested parties across the map. Alliances & coalitions that own Neodymium at the moment aren’t exactly communicating on friendly terms. Neodymium owners include groups as diverse as the HBC, CFC, N3, and other smaller forces.

Despite these challenges and having only existed for a month, it appears as though NOTEC has made its mark and effectively accomplished what it was setting out to do: raise Neo prices on the market. NOTEC formed inside of the HBC and is actively coordinating with N3, allowing it to control over 75% of the Neo moons in the game, with the other 25% of Neo moons residing with the CFC and other non-NOTEC entities.

NOTEC hopes to maintain their price control for as long as possible. Though there are many obstacles in their path (including market games, alchemy, and expanding to control more Neo moons), they’ve dedicated a significant amount of time to coordinating and planning for the future of the organization while enhancing value for all invested parties.

Player since 2006, where my experienced flipped from high sec nobody to Capital FC in TEST. I primarily play EVE in the area of capitals, but have experience in logistics and trade. I occasionally write good things and even have a twitter: jinli_mei